VISIONKEEPERS™ PODCAST

Hosted by Dan Bärham – VisionKeepers™ podcast is the audio companion to the national public television series by the same name.
The podcast is also all about people who dwell in possibilities and try to find ways to leave our world a better place than they found it.

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VISIONKEEPERS™ PODCAST

Hosted by Dan Bärham – VisionKeepers™ podcast is the audio companion to the national public television series by the same name.
The podcast is also all about people who dwell in possibilities and try to find ways to leave our world a better place than they found it.

LATEST EPISODE

The Equine Assisted Growth And Learning Association (EAGALA) incorporates horses to address mental health and personal development needs. “Non-verbal is 90% of all communication, and that’s what the horses respond to.” The horse may become an aspect of a person’s personality, reflected back to them. Lynn/EAGALA provide a space for that person to interact with the horse and in turn the lessons learned from the experience translate into better relationships with others and more enjoyment in life within themselves.

VKP 154 Equine Assistance for Better Mental Health

Lynn Thomas, LCSW is Eagala’s founder and CEO. Under her leadership, Eagala advanced the first professionalized standards for equine-assisted psychotherapy, developing Eagala’s certification program into the industry’s global standard. Her efforts developing the Eagala Model, while spearheading operations both domestically and abroad, have augmented Eagala’s global presence. Lynn Thomas received her Master’s of Social Work from the University of Utah and has over 16 years’ experience working with adolescents, families, individuals, and groups in various settings including youth corrections, wilderness and ranch programs, private practice, and mental health agencies. Lynn served as Executive Director for the Aspen Achievement Academy, a wilderness therapy program.

She first developed a program integrating horses as the primary treatment component as Executive Director for Aspen Ranch, a residential boarding school for troubled adolescents. In 1999, recognizing the efficacy of the experiential learning approach, the intense impact of the equine relationship, and a need to professionalize standards for this new modality, Lynn formed Eagala. With the help of an energized and dynamic team, Lynn developed the organization’s training and certification program and ancillary training manuals.

For more from VisionKeepers™, visit our website www.VisionKeepersTV.com and @VisionKeepersTV(Instagram, Facebook, Twitter). Using #leaveaprint, share with us the ways you and others are leaving a positive print on the world.

If you have a moment, we would greatly appreciate your rating, review, and sharing of this episode. With your support we can bring more inspiring stories like this to light.

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PREVIOUS EPISODES

Dustin Morin explains the process of land reclamation, in which he updates and maintains Alabama’s state inventory of abandoned mine land features and conducts environmental assessments prior to the undertaking of mine reclamation projects. Learn what makes Alabama unique, the positive impacts in safety, and how the landscape is being improved.

VKP 153 Land Reclamation

Dustin Morin explains the process of land reclamation, in which he updates and maintains Alabama’s state inventory of abandoned mine land features and conducts environmental assessments prior to the undertaking of mine reclamation projects. Learn what makes Alabama unique, the positive impacts in safety, and how the landscape is being improved.

“I think we’ve made a positive impact for the safety of the citizens of Alabama while also improving the landscape and environment of the state, but even with the tens of mi

llions of dollars, we’ve done in reclamation work, we’ve reclaimed approximately 89 miles of dangerous high walls in the state. We’ve closed over 1600 dangerous mine openings and reclaimed thousands of acres of abandoned mines, but that’s really only a fraction of the inventory that we have.”

For more from VisionKeepers™, visit our website www.VisionKeepersTV.com and @VisionKeepersTV(Instagram, Facebook, Twitter). Using #leaveaprint, share with us the ways you and others are leaving a positive print on the world.

If you have a moment, we would greatly appreciate your rating, review, and sharing of this episode. With your support we can bring more inspiring stories like this to light.

Marty Williams shares his experience with family-owned shrimp farming and the importance of location and environment to providing a high quality product. Working on saving the mangroves, maintaining water quality, and helping out in the local communities – Sahlman Seafoods has a product they are proud of.

VKP 152 Shrimp Farming

Marty Williams shares his experience with family-owned shrimp farming and the importance of location and environment to providing a high quality product. Working on saving the mangroves, maintaining water quality, and helping out in the local communities – Sahlman Seafoods has a product they are proud of.

The farm has 44 ponds with room for expansion. The processing plant has a capacity to process 120,000 pounds of shrimp per day. Sahlman Seasfoods received Ace award in 2011, the American Corporate Excellence award, presented by Secretay of State, Hillary Clinton.

The poverty Marty saw in Nicaragua really affected him – and the people, the employees, and their desire to work is infectious.

For more from VisionKeepers™, visit our website www.VisionKeepersTV.com and @VisionKeepersTV(Instagram, Facebook, Twitter). Using #leaveaprint, share with us the ways you and others are leaving a positive print on the world.

If you have a moment, we would greatly appreciate your rating, review, and sharing of this episode. With your support we can bring more inspiring stories like this to light.

Jake Danehy, Founder of Fair Harbor Clothing, shares how a beach where he and his sister, Caroline, spent their summers inspired the innovative creation of swim wear made from recycled plastics. Fair Harbor’s mission is to reduce and promote the mitigation of single use plastics is successfully being accomplished through an integral board of advisors and a passion for the cause.

VKP 151 Movement Vs Trend

Jake Danehy, Founder and CEO of Fair Harbor lived and grew up in Larchmont (West Chester), New York. Jake and his sister, Caroline, spent their summers enjoying Fair Harbor beach in Fire Island and learning to surf. The siblings acquired a love for the beach and a nature desire to protect that resource.

Jake went to Colgate University to study economics but quickly became fascinated with the issues/problems that single use plastic presents in our world today. After doing an extended study to research the negative effects of single use plastic on our oceans and eco system Jake began forming ideas for creating swim wear from recycled plastic.

Fair Harbor Clothing came about in 2014 and with the help of an influential advisory board and a strong mission the company has been very successful with this innovative clothing line.

Jake shares that “a movement is happening. I think there’s a big difference between movement and trends. A trend is if a color is hot one season, but a movement is what brings change to fruition. And that’s what I see happening with this plastic issue.”

For more from VisionKeepers™, visit our website www.VisionKeepersTV.com and @VisionKeepersTV(Instagram, Facebook, Twitter). Using #leaveaprint, share with us the ways you and others are leaving a positive print on the world.

If you have a moment, we would greatly appreciate your rating, review, and sharing of this episode. With your support we can bring more inspiring stories like this to light.

Christina Bicchieri, S. J. Patterson Harvie Professor of Social Thought and Comparative Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania and author of “Norms in the Wild,” explores decision theory and all it involves, including fundamental attribution bias, confirmation bias, pluralistic ignorance, time discounting, and the foundational beliefs that shape societies. Working with UNICEF, the Gates Foundation, and the World Bank, Dr. Bicchieri hopes to influence developing countries to adopt small changes that will benefit their communities.

VKP 150 The Complex World of Decision Making

Christina Bicchieri, S. J. Patterson Harvie Professor of Social Thought and Comparative Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania and author of “Norms in the Wild,” explores decision theory and all it involves, including fundamental attribution bias, confirmation bias, pluralistic ignorance, time discounting, and the foundational beliefs that shape societies. Working with UNICEF, the Gates Foundation, and the World Bank, Dr. Bicchieri hopes to influence developing countries to adopt small changes that will benefit their communities.

“How we make decisions and how we interact with other people is very much determined by psychological factors, not just social factors.”

Christina’s Bio:

My intellectual affinities lie at the border between philosophy, game theory and psychology. My primary research focus is on judgment and decision making with special interest in decisions about fairness, trust, and cooperation, and how expectations affect behavior. A second research focus examines the nature and evolution of social norms, how to measure norms and what strategies to adopt to foster social change. This research is more applied, and forms the core of the newly created Penn Social Norms Group (PennSONG). A third, earlier research focus has been the epistemic foundations of game theory and how changes in information affects rational choices and solutions. My consulting and training work with UNICEF, the Gates foundation, the World Bank, DFID and other organizations led me to develop measures of social norms in the field. Sanitation and corruption are two major consulting areas. Most of my group’s consulting work consists in developing specific measures, advising on effective interventions, and monitoring sustainability.

For more from VisionKeepers™, visit our website www.VisionKeepersTV.com and @VisionKeepersTV(Instagram, Facebook, Twitter). Using #leaveaprint, share with us the ways you and others are leaving a positive print on the world.

If you have a moment, we would greatly appreciate your rating, review, and sharing of this episode. With your support we can bring more inspiring stories like this to light.

Cassie Slone, who started The Foster Care Council in 2012, heads up Studio Thrifty for the Kids with her colleague, Lindy Hester. Many children arrive at foster homes with nothing but the clothes are their back, so Studio Thrifty for offers them an individualized personal shopping experience where everything is free, they feel like celebrities, and they can get the supplies and clothing they need.

VKP 149 Fostering Childhood Enrichment

A non-profit, boutique-style store where foster parents can bring their foster children to shop for clothing and other basic necessities at no cost to the families. The goal of Studio Thriftyfor the Kids is to provide a sense of normalcy to foster children by sending them home with basic needs to set them up for success.

Cassie Slone, who started The Foster Care Council in 2012, heads up Studio Thriftyfor the Kids with her colleague, Lindy Hester. Many children arrive at foster homes with nothing but the clothes are their back, so Studio Thrifty for offers them an individualized personal shopping experience where everything is free, they feel like celebrities, and they can get the supplies and clothing they need.

For more from VisionKeepers™, visit our website www.VisionKeepersTV.com and @VisionKeepersTV(Instagram, Facebook, Twitter). Using #leaveaprint, share with us the ways you and others are leaving a positive print on the world.

If you have a moment, we would greatly appreciate your rating, review, and sharing of this episode. With your support we can bring more inspiring stories like this to light.

Jim Ziolkowski shares how BuildOn empowers youth from some of America’s toughest neighborhoods to be the change they want to see in the world through acts of service with homeless, seniors, and children in their communities. BuildOn lights a fire in the hearts and minds of these youth, who go in search of more opportunities to serve and ultimately achieve their high school diplomas – something that only 60% in these communities accomplish outside of the program.

VKP 148 Elevated Expectations

Jim Ziolkowski shares how BuildOn empowers youth from some of America’s toughest neighborhoods to be the change they want to see in the world through acts of service with homeless, seniors, and children in their communities. BuildOn lights a fire in the hearts and minds of these youth, who go in search of more opportunities to serve and ultimately achieve their high school diplomas – something that only 60% in these communities accomplish outside of the program.

BuildOn has built over 1400 schools in Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Malawi, Nepal, Haiti, and Nicaragua.

BuildOn Mission: “BuildOn is not a charity, it’s a movement. We build hope. We buildOn.”

Headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, but has programs across the nation and internationally. Working in solidarity with impoverished kids and impoverished communities to empower and learn from them. The BuildOn youth have contributed over 2.4 million hours of service in their communities. In areas that are ground zero for high school drop outs, the kids who join BuildOn graduate at a rate of 97%. Once kids learn what they’re capable of, the realize what they can accomplish.

“Think about what’s important to you, whether it’s a big thing or a small thing, and just go get it.” – Jim Ziolkowski

For more from VisionKeepers™, visit our website www.VisionKeepersTV.com and @VisionKeepersTV(Instagram, Facebook, Twitter). Using #leaveaprint, share with us the ways you and others are leaving a positive print on the world.

If you have a moment, we would greatly appreciate your rating, review, and sharing of this episode. With your support we can bring more inspiring stories like this to light.

Helen Lowman is the president and CEO of Keep America Beautiful, an organization that has been around for 65 years and is well known for its iconic PSAs about litter and pollution. Helen learned at an early age the importance of recycling, so it’s natural for her to be leading an organization dedicated to the cause of waste reduction. Keep America Beautiful, originally started by companies to combat litter, has expanded its operation to include education about proper recycling techniques and the beautification of America. It has 630 affiliates across the U.S. and 5 million volunteers. Keep America Beautiful utilizes social, private, and public organizations to accomplish its goal of reducing America’s garbage output in a consumer culture.

VKP 146 Repurposing the Hard-To-Recycle

Helen Lowman is the president and CEO of Keep America Beautiful, an organization that has been around for 65 years and is well known for its iconic PSAs about litter and pollution. Helen learned at an early age the importance of recycling, so it’s natural for her to be leading an organization dedicated to the cause of waste reduction. Keep America Beautiful, originally started by companies to combat litter, has expanded its operation to include education about proper recycling techniques and the beautification of America. It has 630 affiliates across the U.S. and 5 million volunteers. Keep America Beautiful utilizes social, private, and public organizations to accomplish its goal of reducing America’s garbage output in a consumer culture.

Mission: We inspire and educate people to take action every day to improve and beautify their community environment.

Programs offered:

Great American Cleanup

I Want To Be Recycled

Cigarette Litter Prevention Program

America Recycles Day

Recycle Bowl

National Planting Day

Coca-Cola Recycling Grant

Recycling at Work

For more from VisionKeepers™, visit our website www.VisionKeepersTV.com and @VisionKeepersTV(Instagram, Facebook, Twitter). Using #leaveaprint, share with us the ways you and others are leaving a positive print on the world.

If you have a moment, we would greatly appreciate your rating, review, and sharing of this episode. With your support we can bring more inspiring stories like this to light.

Veronica Rajadnya enlightens us on the innovative options available to recycle what we might have thought we couldn’t recycle. Offering many free recycling programs to raise money for non profits and easy solutions for every day individuals – Terracycle is bridging the gaps.

VKP 146 Repurposing the Hard-To-Recycle

Veronica, writer and publicist at TerraCycle, the Trenton, New Jersey-based recycling company on a mission to eliminate the idea of waste, strives to empower individuals, communities and brands to rethink how and why we buy for a less wasteful world with more to go around.

TerraCycle is an innovative recycling company that has become a global leader in recycling hard-to-recycle waste. TerraCycle reuses, upcycles, and recycles waste instead of incinerating or landfilling it. This moves waste from a linear system to a circular one, allowing it to keep cycling in our economy.

Veronica enlightens us on the innovative options available to recycle what we might have thought we couldn’t recycle. Offering many free recycling programs to raise money for non profits and easy solutions for every day individuals – Terracycle is bridging the gaps.

Democrats to Republicans, conservatives to liberals, old to young – one this is for sure, we all desire things like clean water, energy efficiency, and air quality but we often find ourselves at a fork in the road. Amy Sohner and Bluegrass Greensource are working to figure out a path we can all agree on and walk down it together.

VKP 145 Amy Sohner, Bluegrass Greensource

Amy Sohner is the Executive Director of Bluegrass Greensource, a nonprofit environmental education organization serving Central Kentucky. Bluegrass Greensource works to empower the citizens of Central Kentucky to create a sustainable environment by encouraging small steps that can make a big impact toward a greener future for our communities. Since 2001, Bluegrass Greensource has provided outreach to schools, community groups, businesses, local governments, and citizens throughout the region.

One program Amy shares on this episode is Kentucky Energy for Youth (KEY). KEY works with 12 schools each year in the after school program educating children about coal mining and alternative energy. They read Saving Wonder, by Mary Knight – a story about a boy their age, from Kentucky, who works to save a mountaintop from being removed.

“Small changes, big impact” is the motto for Main Street Clean Up Project, which is another project Bluegrass Greensource runs each year on Earth Day, where 1,000 volunteers pick up over 5 tons of trash.

Democrats to Republicans, conservatives to liberals, old to young – one this is for sure, we all desire things like clean water, energy efficiency, and air quality but we often find ourselves at a fork in the road. Amy Sohner and Bluegrass Greensource are working to figure out a path we can all agree on and walk down it together.

For more from VisionKeepers™, visit our website www.VisionKeepersTV.com and @VisionKeepersTV(Instagram, Facebook, Twitter). Using #leaveaprint, share with us the ways you and others are leaving a positive print on the world.

If you have a moment, we would greatly appreciate your rating, review, and sharing of this episode. With your support we can bring more inspiring stories like this to light.

Lawrence Sheffield , a teenage entrepreneur, firefighter/paramedic, and now Founder of Magic City Woodworks, joins us today to share the moving story of his humble life up to this point. Creating a space for social impact where young men who may be stuck in a rut can become apprentices, join a brotherhood, and learn tangible skills to take with them the rest of their lives.

VKP 144 Lawrence Sheffield, Magic City Woodworks

Lawrence Sheffield, Magic City Woodworks, shares his journey from teenage entrepreneur, professional firefighter by the age of 19, significant loss of a loved one, a nontraditional educational path, to now Founder of a social impact company in Birmingham, Alabama.

Magic City Woodworks teaches the art of work to young men who are stuck in a rut; giving them a paid apprenticeship where they will learn to create quality goods, partake in brotherhood, build confidence and character, and have a good time. Lawrence’s team’s mission is to help young men bridge the intimidating gap between unemployment and meaningful employment.

“I want to continue to create opportunities and have a diverse group of people to be able to come in and benefit from vocation. Work can have deep meaning and there can be fulfillment. It can be a way to support our families and change the world at the same time.”

Launched August 2018, Impact Kits are seven pieces of lumber that can change lives. A parent or mentor can order a kit, spend 30-45 minutes teaching a young one how to work with their hands. Bird house Impact Kits are available now. Coming soon: tool box Impact Kits.

For a limited time Magic City Woodworks is offering listeners a 10% discount on its

*Contact Magic City Woodworks at MagicCityWoodworks.org for additional details.

For more from VisionKeepers™, visit our website www.VisionKeepersTV.com and @VisionKeepersTV(Instagram, Facebook, Twitter). Using #leaveaprint, share with us the ways you and others are leaving a positive print on the world.

If you have a moment, we would greatly appreciate your rating, review, and sharing of this episode. With your support we can bring more inspiring stories like this to light.

Ely Folk School brings young and old together to teach and be taught traditional skills passed down from the ancestors who founded their beloved town. Paul draws from his lifelong interest in outdoor adventure to remind us that our daily encumbrances pale in comparison to the magnificence of the natural world around us.

Suma Rosen, Executive Director of InsideOut in Detroit, MI offers a window into the souls of our youth and gives them the means to express it through poetry. InsideOut Detroit nurtures creative thinking and creates a space for possibility.

Steve Nygren, chats about how a farm purchased near Atlanta, Georgia inspired a community filled with hope to live out life comprised of free range children, home grown food, butterfly bushes, edible gardens, and diverse community – welcome to Serenbe.

Lynn Thomas, LCSW is Eagala’s founder and CEO. Under her leadership, Eagala advanced the first professionalized standards for equine-assisted psychotherapy, developing Eagala’s certification program into the industry’s global standard. Her efforts developing the Eagala Model, while spearheading operations both domestically and abroad, have augmented Eagala’s global presence. Lynn Thomas received her Master’s of Social Work from the University of Utah and has over 16 years’ experience working with adolescents, families, individuals, and groups in various settings including youth corrections, wilderness and ranch programs, private practice, and mental health agencies. Lynn served as Executive Director for the Aspen Achievement Academy, a wilderness therapy program.

Colin Tomkins-Bergh educates consumers and businesses on the issues at the nexus of food and sustainability by working with startups across the country. He has an education in sociology, entrepreneurship and scientific communication with a specific focus on sustainability throughout the food value chain. Colin’s career demonstrates his ability to bring innovative ideas to market to make a more equitable and sustainable food system.

Amanda is a college biology instructor living in Savannah, GA who began picking up litter in September, 2017 in an effort to mitigate flooding from oncoming Hurricane Irma. Amanda continued removing litter from Savannah streets, sidewalks, and parking lots after the 2017 hurricane season ended. Her goals include single-handedly clearing 200 thirteen-gallon bags of litter from her community every year and increasing scientific literacy via social media.

Brynne MacCann joined Southern Research in 2016. She is responsible for providing administrative and tactical support associated with the organization’s fundraising strategy, in addition to public relations responsibilities associated with the fund development activities.

All views, ideas, and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the individuals and organizations featured in this podcast and do not necessarily reflect the views, ideas, or opinions of VisionKeepers Media Productions, LLC, (“VisionKeepers Media Productions”) and their owners, officers, and employees.

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